The invention is related to a gas-liquid contacting column provided with a plurality of axially spaced trays, each tray having two tray sections separated along a diametrical line on the tray, each tray section comprising a plurality of parallel rectangular downcomers, a plurality of liquid receiving areas and bubble area between the downcomers and the liquid receiving areas, which liquid receiving area is positioned just below the downcomer of a consecutive tray just above and which downcomers are open at the upper end and closed at the bottom end, which bottom end is provided with a plurality of liquid discharge openings and which downcomers extend from the diametrical line to the circumferential of the tray in such a manner that the ends of the downcomers of the two tray sections are positioned along the diametrical line in an alternating manner.
Such a gas-liquid contacting column is described in GB-A-1422131. This publication from 1976 describes such a column being provided with a plurality of gas-liquid contacting trays, wherein the rectangular downcomers have vertical walls. The tray is divided by a supporting beam along a diametrical line in two tray sections. Each tray section has a row of parallel rectangular downcomers arranged perpendicular to the supporting beam. The row of downcomers in one section are staggered relative to the row of downcomers in the opposite tray section. According to this publication the staggering tray layout promotes an even distribution of the liquid over the entire tray.
Although the tray as described in GB-A-1422131 has proven to be a good gas-liquid contacting tray in many applications there is room for improvement. A problem often encountered with this design is a reduced contacting efficiency of the upwardly moving gas with the downwardly moving liquid. The object of the present invention is to provide a gas-liquid tray which incorporates the advantages of the tray as described in GB-A-1422131 with a higher efficiency.
This object is achieved with the following gas-liquid contacting column. Gas-liquid contacting column provided with a plurality of axially spaced trays, each tray having two tray sections separated along a diametrical line on the tray, each tray section comprising a plurality of parallel rectangular downcomers, a plurality of liquid receiving areas and bubble area between the downcomers and the liquid receiving areas, which liquid receiving area is positioned just below the downcomer of a consecutive tray just above and which downcomers are open at the upper end and closed at the bottom end, which bottom end is provided with a plurality of liquid discharge openings and which downcomers extend from the diametrical line to the circumferential of the tray in such a manner that the ends of the downcomers of the two tray sections are positioned along the diametrical line in an alternating manner, wherein the area of the liquid discharge openings per downcomer length as viewed from below and close to the diametrical line is less than the average area of the liquid discharge openings per downcomer length as viewed from below.
Applicants have found that by varying the liquid discharge openings along the downcomer lower end according to the invention a higher gas-liquid contacting efficiency is achieved. With close to the diametrical line is preferably meant a distance of 0.2 m.